The Bureau of Flood Resilience, under DEP’s Engineering and Construction Program, is responsible for two Rebuild by Design (RBD) projects on the Hudson River and in the Meadowlands with $380 million to protect municipalities from flooding.

In 2013, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) launched the RBD competition in response to Superstorm Sandy’s devastation. RBD was developed to create innovative community and policy-based solutions to protect U.S. cities that are vulnerable to increasing intense weather events.

Information regarding the NJ Department of Environmental Protection’s timeline for the oversight of the design and construction of this project is available in the October 16, 2014 Federal Register.

On October 29, 2012 Superstorm Sandy devastated the New Jersey coast. As part of the State’s rehabilitation and preventative efforts to Governor Christie established the Bureau of Flood Resilience by executing Executive Order No. 140 on September 25, 2013, to facilitate the timely completion of a comprehensive system of flood hazard risk reduction measures.

Since the establishment of this Office, New Jersey has been awarded US Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recover (CDBG-DR) funding to implement risk reduction measures which includes the acquisition of easements and project grant funding. These funds will be used to acquire easements to property in vulnerable coastal areas in support of on-going and proposed beach erosion control, storm damage reduction and flood control projects in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and DEP. Some of this funding will also be distributed as grants to municipalities and counties for the development and construction of risk reduction measures in areas with a high vulnerability to storm surge or flooding. Information regarding the flood hazard risk reduction grant program funding opportunities will be available on this page (and in the November, 3, 2014 New Jersey Register.